Internet in Egypt - Report Example

Internet in Egypt Name Course Name and Code Instructor’s Name Date Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 Introduction (Background about Egypt) 3 History of the Internet in Egypt 3 The Social Media in Egypt & its Role in the Jan 2011 Revolution 4 Internet Users 7 Internet Service Providers (ISP) 8 Telecommunications 11 Internet Censorship 12 Conclusion/Future Predictions 14 References 15 Introduction (Background about Egypt) Egypt is a country that is located in northeast of Africa and is connected to southwest corner of Asia by the Sinai Peninsula. The country is bordered by the Gaza Strip, Mediterranean, Sudan, Red Sea, Libya and Israel. Egypt covers a land area of 390,000 square miles with a population of more than 82 million people. The country capital city is Cairo and Nile River lies next to the town. The country is a prehistoric and has numerous historical artefacts that have made the country to be a tourist destination. The country was governed by a dictator who was removed from power in 2011 after an uprising. Egypt also is among the most developed countries in Africa and the country speaks Arabic language and the country has links with Middle East because of geographic location and the language. The aim of this paper is discuss Internet in Egypt. The paper analyses its brief Internet history, Internet users, telecommunication industry, and influence of Internet on governance and Internet future in Egypt. History of the Internet in Egypt Internet has become an important issue in socioeconomic and political component across the world. Many countries have embraced Internet with the aim of making the economies prosperous while others utilise it for education purposes. In 1993, Internet was introduced into Egypt and the bandwidth was 9.6 kbps in which between 2000 and 3000 people utilised Internet (Mohamed Rashad, 2013). In 1994, the .eg domain was divided into three domains and within the same period the bandwidth was also incr5eased. Moreover, the people accessing Internet increased and this resulted in a chain of Internet utilisation in the country. The following table summaries history of Internet in Egypt. Year Bandwidth Population Connect to and information 1993 9.6 kbps 2000 - 3000 Connected to Cabinet Information & Decision Support Centre and Egyptian Universities Network (EUN) 1994 The Egyptian domain (.eg) is divided into three sub-domains. These domains are .eun.eg, .sci.eg and .gov.eg 1996 Speeds increased by 20 times 20,000 and ISPs reached 40. These ISPs concentrated at Alexandria, Cairo, Red Sea Area and Sinai .com.eg domain provides connectivity 2000 ISDN service introduction. Speeds available increased to 64 kbps and 128 kbps Summary of history of Internet users (Mohamed Rashad, 2013) The Social Media in Egypt & its Role in the Jan 2011 Revolution The Egypt revolution took place late January 2011. The social media incorporate four important platforms as an organisational tool, alternative press tool and an outlet for citizen journalism. The political protests occurred between 25th January and 11th February in 2011 whereby it resulted in President Hosni Mubarak relinquishing his seat. Some of the social media outlets mostly utilised are the blogs, Facebook, Twitter and Youtube. The following table summaries the contribution of each of the social media towards facilitation of the political protests (Storck, 2011). Social Media Estimate population/Origin Role utilised for Facebook Was launched in 2004 and has more than 800 million users as of November 2011. In 2011, Facebook active users were estimated at 6,586,260 and most of these people joined Facebook during the period of revolution. Most of the users are aged between 18 – 24 years Users come together as friends and are able to update information on members’ wall. In addition, the social allows interest groups to join to present or contribute. Twitter It was launched in 2006 and people are allowed to communicate through “Tweets” and also allow embedding of links. Within the period of revolution, there were 131,204 twitter users Between January and March of 2011 two common terms were utilised. These terms are #jan25 (1.2 million mentions) and #Egypt (1.4 million mentions). People utilised this handle to update the progress of revolution and plans on the revolution Youtube It allows transmission of video related content that supports also audio The protesters posted videos and sound clips to the YouTube. These clips showed how the government utilised her resources to stop the protesters and to end the protest Weblogs Numerous types of blogs exist and the protesters utilised these numerous blogs to reach each other The blogs acted as newspapers and information regarding the protest was continuously posted to these blogs. The protesters were updated on the progress of the protest and how the world was responding to their challenges Social media was utilised by the protesters as medium of organisation. Comparable to other uprising such as the Libyan and Tunisian, the Egyptian succeeded in removing the present within 18 days. Moreover, the Egyptian uprising was relatively peaceful compared to other uprisings. Efficiency in utilisation of social media accelerated the events since it was utilised as an organisational infrastructure and it employed offline networks and virtual networks. Moreover, the protesters maximised on the basis of Twitter and Facebook of sending information from many to many. In addition, the social media allowed different protesters to communicate with each other with the aim of sharing their common grievances. When the new protesters receives the information, the information self-reinforces resulting in increase participation in the uprising and hence the success of the revolution without a defined organisational structure. Social media also created an alternative press, which is cheaper and less restrictive. Comparable to traditional media, the social media provide a platform for citizen journalism and were able to upload videos and text directly and this uploads occurred in any location, which had Internet coverage. Even though social media has numerous challenges especially in terms of accuracy but this was an advantage to the protesters because they were able to shape their narrative and also be able to present their grievances to an international audience. The social media was also utilised in generating awareness. Social media allowed users to start in an online environment and which later was transposed to offline movements whereby they gained both attention and momentum. Most of the information posted on these social media were aimed at informing on the causes of the movements and were the perceived outcome of the uprising. One of the important awareness page created on Facebook was “We Are All Khaled” and this attracted many people. The Facebook page attracted more than 500,000 members who were able to spread the graphic details of the disfigured corpse, an outcome of police action at the hands of police. The activist were able to campaign through Internet against the corrupt and repressive Egyptian government. Internet Users Expansion of technology and importance of globalisation has resulted in utilisation of Internet by numerous users. The number of Internet users has continuously increased since its introduction in 1993. In addition, the importance of Internet was illustrated in the 2011 spring revolution in which many people utilised the Internet to communicate. Moreover, the benefits of globalisation have resulted in utilisation of Internet based technology to improve the economy. The following tables illustrate the utilisation of Internet in advancing the societal requirements. Indicator Unit 2011 (January) 2012 (January) 2013 (January) Internet users Million user 23.51 29.53 32.49 Internet penetration % 30.05 36.31 39.19 International Internet Bandwidth Gbps 132.22 181.85 214.40 Proportion of Households using Internet from Home % 32.76 38.02 45.12 The table illustrates Internet usage (Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, 2013) Indicator Unit January 2011 January 2012 January 2013 ADSL Subscription Million Subscription 1.43 1.84 2.26 Mobile Internet Users Million Users 8.09 10.71 10.80 Proportion of Mobile Internet Users of Total Mobile Subscription % 11.45 12.84 11.24 Proportion of Mobile Internet Users of Total Internet Users % 34.40 36.27 32.99 USB Modem Subscription Million Subscription 1.58 2.74 3.37 Proportion of Broadband Internet Users of Total Internet Users % 86.83 89.55 90.59 The table illustrates Internet users by mode of access (Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, 2013) Internet Service Providers (ISP) An Internet service provider (ISP) is defined as an organisation that provides services to Internet users. The ISPs buys in bulk data bandwidths and utilise splits these bandwidths into smaller bandwidths, which are then resold to consumers. In Egypt, numerous companies exist that provides ISPs and the services provide different based on the targeted markets. The following table summaries the major companies that are offering Internet based services (Asaralo, 2013). 1. Advanced Systems Internet Service Provider 2. Al Mostkbl IT Internet Service Provider 3. ArkaNet.net DSL 4. Alex Net Internet Service Provider 5. Balooshy.com Internet Service Provider 6. BEC Online Internet Service Provider 7. Comm Net Internet Service Provider 8. Data Express Internet Service Provider 9. eDigits.net Internet Service Provider 10. EgyNile Internet Service Provider 11. Egypt Sat Internet Service Provider 12. Egypt Network ISP Internet Service Provider 13. Express 07770555 Internet Service Provider 14. GLORYEGYPT Internet Service Provider 15. Gumhoria Internet Internet Service Provider 16. InTouch Internet Service Provider 17. Infinity Internet Service Provider 18. Internet Misr (IM) Internet Service Provider 19. Internet Egypt Internet Service Provider 20. LINKdotNET Internet Service Provider 21. Mena Sat Internet Service Provider 22. MenaNet Internet Service Provider, Egypt 23. Netsonic Egypt Internet Service Provider 24. NozhaNet.net Internet Service Provider 25. Seven7s Internet Service Provider 26. SHAHD Internet Service Provider 27. SofiCom Communications Internet Service Provider 28. Star Net Internet Service Provider 29. TE Data Internet Service Provider 30. The Way Out Internet Service Provider 31. Trento Egypt Inc Internet Service Provider 32. Yalla Internet Service Provider Eight major companies are the service providers which later sell their service to other smaller ISPs. Some of the services offered by these ISPs include pre-paid, dial-up, dedicated and premium services. The increase in the number of service providers is attributed to the liberalisation of telecommunication industry. Moreover, these companies have realised the importance of telecommunication and Internet provision to the economy and other benefits associated with increasing revenues for relevant organisations. In addition, broadband technology and its interlinked capabilities to other broadband fibre networks as allowed the expansion of the industry. Telecommunications Telecommunication is an important part of Egypt because it is the largest broadcasting and publishing centre in the Arab world. Some of the communication fields in Egypt include mail, radio, press, television, cellular communications, wireless internet, Internet and landline telephony. These fields offer different types of information and utilises different strategies to ensure their operations are sustainable. The cellular communications sector, which mostly utilises 3G and 3.75G services, incorporates companies such as Vodafone Egypt, Mobinil and Etisalat Egypt. Regarding the internet services, the market is divided into two parts which are service providers and infrastructure providers. The infrastructure companies include TEData, LINKdotNET, EGYNet, NileOnline and Raya. Indicator Unit 2011 (January) 2012 (January) 2013 (January) Mobile subscription Million subscription 71.46 91.32 94.47 Mobile Penetration % 91.32 112.30 113.76 Mobile telephones table (sourced from Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, 2013) Internet Censorship The Internet in Egypt was not extensively censored by President Mubarak regime but the government was arresting and prosecuting some of the critical bloggers. The importance of Internet and to some extent the freedom of Internet played a major role in ensuring the success of the 2011 Egyptian revolution. Information available before the 2011 uprising indicated that the Internet was partly free while another report in 2009 presented by OpenNet Initiative that indicated that there was no Internet filtering. However, some of the companies that offer services in Egypt offer optional filters that are utilised in blocking pornographic information. The aim of these services such the one offered by TEData is to protect the children from content that may be indecent (Reporters without Borders, 2012). In addition, in the early 2005, the government placed guidelines in which it encouraged and placed restrictions on the utilisation of the Internet. For example, the government had ordered all cybercafé managers to record ID numbers and customer’s names for those who utilised the cybercafé services and the government threatened that if this guidelines could have not been followed could result in the closure of the cybercafés. The regulations become tougher in 2008 when the government demanded that Internet cafe customers’ provide their e-mail addresses, their names, and phone numbers with the aim of receiving the PIN on their cell phones processed by the government. The PIN would be utilised in accessing the Internet. The growth of Internet in Egypt resulted in introduction of stringent actions against Internet users and bloggers. For example, a blogger who incited to hatred the public was arrested and imprisoned for four years in 2007. In addition, the online repression has been witnessed continuously in the country and in 2008, for example, it resulted in prosecution and sentencing of an individual in which the government stated that he was arrested and prosecuted because of destabilising public security, offending institutions and inciting the public to demonstrate. Nevertheless, some of the legal organisations did not accept some of the restrictions proposed by judges. For example, in 2007, an administrate court refused to grant permission in which the government could have banned 49 web sites. The court asserted that provided the website do not cause harm both in terms of order and beliefs, the importance for freedom should be emphasised. In addition, numerous lawsuits have been filled that aims to restrict the operations and utilisation of Internet in Egypt. The requests range from belief of hatred to access of pornographic information from these websites. Censorship of Internet became a bigger issue on March 2011 whereby officers arrested a blogger. The arrest was after the uprising. Many human rights organisations had thought censorship and filtering had ended after change of government but numerous instances of suppression is evident (Reporters without Borders, 2012). The arrest of Maikel Nabil was unique in it self because the military arrest the person and also prosecuted. This was against the rules and regulations because the military have no right to arrest a civilian. Conclusion/Future Predictions Internet has become an important component in sustaining economies and supporting social requirements. Egypt understands the importance of Internet and in 1993, Internet was introduced into the country. Since then, the quality of Internet has improved and more users have been reported. The number of Internet users utilising numerous strategies such as through phones and computers increased tremendously. The Internet is provided by two infrastructure companies and eight service provider companies. These eight service provider companies later sell the services to more service providers. Internet played an important role during the uprising in which President Mubarak was ousted. The activities utilised Internet through social media as a means of organising, creating awareness and being a citizen journalism platform. Even though Internet has become important in Egypt, numerous censor reports have been reported and this has affected immensely the perception of Internet in Egypt. However, the Internet and importance of Internet in Egypt is becoming more important and useful. Internet has been associated with numerous benefits and the government of Egypt aims to maximise on Internet to achieve the goals. Therefore, the Internet aspect in Egypt could continue to grow but it is important to introduce measures to monitor Internet rather than introducing censorship measures that would affect the operations of Internet. References Asaralo. (2013). List of ISPs companies in Egypt. Retrieved from http://www.asaralo.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1263%3Alist-of-isps-companies-in-egypt&catid=111%3Aafrican-isps&Itemid=980&lang=en Freedom House. (2012). Freedom on the net. Retrieved from http://www.freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-net/2012/egypt Ministry of Communications and Information Technology. (March, 2013). ICT Indicators in Brief. Retrieved from http://mcit.gov.eg/Upcont/Documents/Publications_2242013000_EN_ICT_Indicators_March13.pdf Mohamed Rashad. (2013). Internet history Egypt. Retrieved from http://www.mohamedrashad.com/internet_history_egypt.html Reporters without Borders. (12 March 2012). Egypt. Retrieved from http://en.rsf.org/egypt-egypt-12-03-2012,42049.html Storck, M. (2011). The Role of Social Media in Political Mobilisation: a Case Study of the January 2011 Egyptian Uprising. “This dissertation is submitted in part requirement for the Degree of M.A. (Honours with International Relations) at the University of St Andrews, Scotland, and is solely the work of the above named candidate”. 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